Dr Who Ratings Thread

Comments

Why was Bad Wolf a decrease on the previous week? Did Boom Town put people off, or something? And why didn't it increase beyond 0.1 for the finale when it had THAT cliffhanger? There's no justice sometimes.

Why was Bad Wolf a decrease on the previous week? Did Boom Town put people off, or something? And why didn't it increase beyond 0.1 for the finale when it had THAT cliffhanger? There's no justice sometimes.

Because this level of inconsistent consistency is not something we've experienced before Series 8 It's like asking why Series 4 dropped from 9.04m to 7.50m between Episodes 2 & 3. It only took one episode of S4 to push the average up over 8m.

Do you really believe that the show could see an increase in ratings just because of a change in showrunner? It's incredibly unlikely.

Depends what said Showrunner does really.

For example If he reduced the episode count to Six but made each one 90 mins and spread them thoughout the year then I would think Episodic Ratings would be higher but of course we'd only have 6 stories a year.

For example If he reduced the episode count to Six but made each one 90 mins and spread them thoughout the year then I would think Episodic Ratings would be higher but of course we'd only have 6 stories a year.

What if he/she came in, with a new Doctor, new companion, changed the look and feel of the show and....

...oh, that already happened There wasn't much of a drastic change... just the same trickling decline we saw for the first three years. Almost like a trend.

Do you really believe that the show could see an increase in ratings just because of a change in showrunner? It's incredibly unlikely. When a show has been on the air as long as Doctor Who, a change of showrunner or change of Doctor will never make a great difference. If the show were rested for 5-8 years and then brought back, you'd probably get a significant hike in ratings. But otherwise, I'd suggest not.

I didn't say increase, I said change either way

The basic point is very simple - people have decided whether they like Moffat's DW or not by now. Changing the lead actor makes no difference to that. A change of showrunner means a different feel to the show, a chance of a different direction etc. You'd likely get people tuning in out of curiosity (as they do for a regeneration) and that could boost the ratings if they found they liked the new style more. Of course it could also have the opposite effect. Or it could have no effect at all. I certainly don't think changing showrunner WOULD massive effect the ratings but realistically it's the only thing that COULD.

Casting Capaldi has made no different (the show continues to trickle slowly downwards in average ratings but in a manner that should have no one concerned) because it's still Moffat's DW and stylistically little has changed since that is how Moffat writes/showruns. He can make minor tweeks but he still has his own particular style. A new showrunner could bring a very different style and it'd be interesting to see how audiences react to that.

As it is, I do think Moffat should hand it over after series 9 - 5 series is more than enough and there's a risk of it going stale if they don't bring some fresh talent in behind the scenes.

The basic point is very simple - people have decided whether they like Moffat's DW or not by now. Changing the lead actor makes no difference to that. A change of showrunner means a different feel to the show, a chance of a different direction etc. You'd likely get people tuning in out of curiosity (as they do for a regeneration) and that could boost the ratings if they found they liked the new style more. Of course it could also have the opposite effect. Or it could have no effect at all. I certainly don't think changing showrunner WOULD massive effect the ratings but realistically it's the only thing that COULD.

Casting Capaldi has made no different (the show continues to trickle slowly downwards in average ratings but in a manner that should have no one concerned) because it's still Moffat's DW and stylistically little has changed since that is how Moffat writes/showruns. He can make minor tweeks but he still has his own particular style. A new showrunner could bring a very different style and it'd be interesting to see how audiences react to that.

As it is, I do think Moffat should hand it over after series 9 - 5 series is more than enough and there's a risk of it going stale if they don't bring some fresh talent in behind the scenes.

I agree with a lot of that. But I would say that there was an opportunity for an upswing in the ratings with Capaldi's Doctor. In contrast to Matt Smith, Capaldi is a very well known television actor and that was an opportunity to bring new people to the show. But instead the downward trend has continued (and seems to be still more marked with live viewing). While I agree that the downturn is not dramatic at some point the show does have to stop losing hundreds of thousands of viewers (on average) per series.

On the specific issues of the showrunner I think Moffatt has done a great job but I think it is probably time now to pass the baton on to somebody else. If nothing else, it must be extremely wearing to be a punch-bag for irate fans for so many years.

Probably down to poor word of mouth to be honest. The opposite should happen this week!

Not necessarily. The episode shifted heavily earlier in the week, and the adjustment to the overnight was a very small one. While the apparent timeshift suggests otherwise, in reality it's still in the overnight that the damage has happened.

Why was Bad Wolf a decrease on the previous week? Did Boom Town put people off, or something? And why didn't it increase beyond 0.1 for the finale when it had THAT cliffhanger? There's no justice sometimes.

The weather is the simple answer. It was blisteringly hot on the Saturday of Parting of the Ways - but it did get something like a 44% share. And don't forget, that was before the days of easy catch-up like we have now.

The basic point is very simple - people have decided whether they like Moffat's DW or not by now. Changing the lead actor makes no difference to that. A change of showrunner means a different feel to the show, a chance of a different direction etc. You'd likely get people tuning in out of curiosity (as they do for a regeneration) and that could boost the ratings if they found they liked the new style more. Of course it could also have the opposite effect. Or it could have no effect at all. I certainly don't think changing showrunner WOULD massive effect the ratings but realistically it's the only thing that COULD.

Casting Capaldi has made no different (the show continues to trickle slowly downwards in average ratings but in a manner that should have no one concerned) because it's still Moffat's DW and stylistically little has changed since that is how Moffat writes/showruns. He can make minor tweeks but he still has his own particular style. A new showrunner could bring a very different style and it'd be interesting to see how audiences react to that.

As it is, I do think Moffat should hand it over after series 9 - 5 series is more than enough and there's a risk of it going stale if they don't bring some fresh talent in behind the scenes.

Going stale? DW has to be the least 'stale' show in the history of television. As for the premise, only us 'fans' care about the 'show runner'.....for the vast majority, the general audience, there is the Doctor, the companion and the monster. Nothing else matters.